Port Vale Supporters' Club chairman Mark Porter says protests against Norman Smurthwaite must be peaceful - but supporters will show their opposition to the way the club is being run.

Fans at Thursday night's meeting of the Supporters' Club voted unanimously to stage a protest against the Vale owner which will take place at the home game with Morecambe on February 16.

That has prompted a response from the Vale owner in a lengthy statement. Smurthwaite has urged supporters to consider the affect protests could have on other staff at the club and the players. He has also spoken about 'disgraceful' abuse directed towards him, his family and members of staff.

Porter has condemned any personal abuse, but says supporters have a right to make their feelings clear and want to express their deep concerns for the club under Smurthwaite's ownership.

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Thursday night's meeting was attended by around 60-70 supporters including Porter, although as Supporters' Club chairman he didn't vote.

They voted for the protests which are set to include a march from Burslem to the ground before the game and a red-card protest inside the ground.

Porter hopes that by having the Supporters' Club behind the protests they can be properly organised - and he has also said they must be peaceful.

Port Vale owner Norman Smurthwaite

He said: "Protests have to be peaceful and you have to attack the point not people. You have to be civilised and we have decided to have a protest at the Morecambe game.

"That will involve red cards, boycotting buying things and basically showing the owner that fans are not happy with how the club is being run."

Porter believes there has been growing opposition during the transfer window which ended at 11pm on Thursday.

That ended without the Valiants bringing in an experienced striker. They did attempt to sign former Valiant Marc Richards among other targets but instead recruited young midfielders Callum Whelan and Toby Edser from Manchester United and Nottingham Forest respectively. They also brought in defender Kyle Howkins on loan from West Brom as well as 23-year-old attacking midfielder Dan Trickett-Smith from Leek Town on a two year deal, although he has been loaned back to Leek for the rest of the season.

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Porter says fans' unhappiness is no reflection on the players individually but the club needed more investment in experienced players during the January window.

He added: "The fans are concerned that we are going backwards every year. We are cutting and cutting until there will be nothing left to cut.

"Also, it was stated that Neil Aspin had £400,000 to spend in the January transfer window. The manager said on January 1 that he was thinking about his future, then that went to 24 hours before deadline day.

"There has been no £400,000 spent. In fact, we have offloaded players and brought loan players in."

Former Port Vale boss Neil Aspin

The Valiants are searching for a new manager after Neil Aspin stepped down on Wednesday morning. Vale are 18th in League Two, six points clear of the relegation zone, but Porter says supporters are understandably concerned because of Vale's recent history under the owner.

Vale were relegated from League One in 2016/17 and then last season only escaped relegation from the Football League by a single point.

But he says any protests will not be directed at caretaker manager Danny Pugh or the players who are trying to pull the Valiants clear of relegation trouble.

Porter added: "We will support the players who have come in, but it is absolutely critical that we stay in the Football League. We have a chance we could go out of the league because of the mess we have had in January.

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"If you look at teams like Blackpool and Charlton, supporters are not turning on the team, they are turning on how the club has been run."

He says supporters wouldn't be protesting at all unless they feared for Vale's future as a Football League club under Smurthwaite.

He said: "What do we do? We have no option because if we don't do anything we are going out of the league. Too many people have followed this football club for years.

"My dad, his family, my son. We are trying to protect the club for generations to come and right now it is looking like it is oblivion. I just hope that we can find somebody who will come in and we can put this behind us and move forward."